China confident of controlling pig disease
By Bao Daozu (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-01 05:26

In Hong Kong, the health authority also reported one human case, which takes the total number of cases in the region to 11 since May, 2004.

The patient, an 84-year-old man, was hospitalized on June 16, he is in a stable condition.

He had not travelled outside the region or been to pig farm for a long time before he became ill, Xinhua News Agency reported.

A large quantity of vaccine, enough for 350,000 pigs, was sent to Chengdu yesterday afternoon from South China's Guangdong Province.

The producer of the vaccine, the Guangdong Yongshun Biology Pharmaceutical Factory, said it will produce enough vaccine for 10 million pigs in the coming days.

The Ministry of Health held a national television and telephone meeting over the weekend asking branches to be on alert for the bacteria.

The livestock trade in Sichuan has been hit hard by the outbreak.

In Ziyang, where human cases were first reported, people have turned away from pork, preferring poultry and beef instead.

"I know the pork in markets now is safe, but I just followed others and didn't buy it," one unidentified shopper said yesterday.

"It's hard to estimate the economic losses," said An Weining, director of the local animal husbandry department.

Authorities are also exploring ways to curb the deep-rooted practice small-scale farmers have of butchering and eating animals which are the victims of disease.

Experts say butchering and eating infected pork is the only way for humans to catch the disease.